Pataphysics

‘Pataphysics has always existed, although it took a French literary madman, Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), to recognise it and give it a name. Jarry defined ‘pataphysics as “the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments”. He said: “pataphysics will examine the laws governing exceptions, and will explain the universe supplementary to this one”. He also observed that ‘pataphysics extends beyond metaphysics as far as metaphysics does beyond physics.

The apostrophe at the start of the word ‘pataphysics indicates that a prefix, perhaps the pataphysical prefix, is missing. The word is frequently seen these days without the apostrophe, and in this sense is generally understood to signify unconscious Pataphysics. We are all pataphysicians - it’s just that some people know they are.

This CD contains a brief history of ‘pataphysics in sound. It includes:

• ‘pataphysical music by ‘pataphysicians • pataphysical music by non-‘pataphysicians, and indeed • pataphysical music by ‘pataphysicians.

It also includes several pataphysical pieces created especially for the CD.

The history of ‘pataphysics is spiriform, like the gidouille drawn on Ubu’s belly. Any spiral is in fact two spirals: the one that is drawn, and the one that is defined by the one that is drawn. The spiral paths of ‘pataphysics lead through the Collège de ‘Pataphysique and its offshoots, but also through the world beyond its imaginary walls. The doctrine of Equivalence teaches us that a page of the telephone directory is worth the same as the Exploits and Opinions of Dr Faustroll, ‘Pataphysician. The world and the Collège de ‘Pataphysique stand in the same relationship. Eadem Mutata Resurgo (“I shall arise the same, though changed”)1.

So, sit back and relax, dear listener. Open a can of Pschitt and enjoy the sensations that wiggle the spiral of your basilar canal. Your curator, Andrew Hugill, has prepared some unhelpful notes to aid incomprehension of what follows. It is suggested that you do anything rather than read these as the music plays. On the other hand, just like Jarry’s ‘Army of Free Men’ who systematically disobey every order they are given (and are then thrown into confusion when Ubu obeys), we have no doubt at all that you will ignore this advice.

Track 1: Marche Funèbre composée pour les funérailles d'un grand homme sourd (Funeral March composed for the interment of an illustrious deaf man) Alphonse Allais (1884) 1’ 28”

Like Erik Satie, Alphonse Allais (1854-1905) was born in Honfleur, Normandy. He composed this piece for the 1884 2 exhibition of Les Arts Incoherents in Paris. Allais had also created the first monochrome canvases for these

1 From Robert C. Yates (1952): “The investigation of spirals began at least with the ancient Greeks. The famous Equiangular Spiral was discovered by Descartes, its properties of self-reproduction by James (Jacob) Bernoulli (1654-1705) who requested that the curve be engraved upon his tomb with the phrase "Eadem mutata resurgo" ("I shall arise the same, though changed.")” 2 Curated by Jules Lévy. The artists Edouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro, the composer Richard Wagner, and the king of Bavaria were visitors to the 1882 exhibition! exhibitions: an all-white one entitled Anemic Young Girls Taking their First Communion in the Snow, an all-red one entitled Apoplectic Cardinals Picking Tomatoes in the Noon- day Sun, and so on. It need hardly be pointed out that the Funeral March, which is receiving its first recording on this CD,3 was written many years before a more celebrated composition by John Cage.4 The pataphysicians call this process plagiarism by anticipation.

Track 2: Chanson du Décervelage. Alfred Jarry, Charles Pourny. Music by Claude Terrasse. (1896) 2’ 45”

3 The score is unclear about duration, so I have made this recording the length of an imaginary performance of the tune from Chopin’s Funeral March. 4 4’ 33”, the silent piece, was composed in 1952.

Lithograph by Jarry.

Track 3: Hymne des Palotins. Alfred Jarry, Charles Pourny. Music by Claude Terrasse. (1896) 2’ 54”

Woodcut by Jarry depicting The Palotins

In 1896, Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi was staged for the first time in Paris. There have been many accounts of this legendary performance5, and the influence it has had on subsequent theatre is considerable. Indeed, it is still frequently being reinterpreted and performed today, one recent example being Jane Taylor’s version, Ubu and the truth commission, about South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

5 See Shattuck, R. (1958) The Banquet Years. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.

The monstrous figure of Ubu, with his equally monstrous wife and a team of minions called the ‘Palotins’, rule an imaginary Poland through terror and arbitrary acts of absurd generosity, guided by a cod science of pataphysics. Ubu began life as a schoolboy parody of a science teacher, M. Hébert. The opening word of the play is “merdre” (variously translated as Shittr, Pshit, etc etc), at which the audience erupted. There were fist fights and continuous haranguing of the production throughout the performance, after which W. B. Yeats (no less) famously remarked “what more is possible? After us, the Savage God.” The anarchic qualities of Jarry’s play, and subsequently of Jarry himself, were viewed variously as a threat to bourgeois society and a gigantic schoolboy hoax.

It is important to be aware, however, that ‘pataphysics is bigger than Ubu, and bigger than Jarry himself (as he well knew). The word appears in several other texts by Jarry, in particular the highly influential novel Days and Nights, and the Bible of ‘pataphysics, the Exploits and Opinions of Dr Faustroll, ‘Pataphysician. Here the word acquires a less obviously anarchic quality and several key pataphysical concepts are introduced, such as syzygy (a rare conjunction, usually of three astral bodies) and clinamen (an accidental swerve in the path of an atom which, in Epicurean theory, creates matter). Plays-on-words and layers of hidden meaning, ambiguation and disambiguation, mathematical and scientific play, plus and minus, all characterise ‘pataphysics. In the last words of Faustroll: “Pataphysics is the science.”

These two songs from Ubu Roi were recorded in 1951 and 1946 respectively, by the choir of the recently formed Collège de ‘Pataphysique. In the fevered intellectual atmosphere of postwar Paris6, the meta-ironical humour of ‘pataphysics represented a welcome breath of fresh air. The first Vice- Curator of the Collège was His Magnificence Dr Sandomir, who published Statutes and a pataphysical calendar consisting of a thirteen month year and starting from the birth of Jarry.7 Within ten pataphysical years, membership

6 Sartre’s Les Chemins de la Liberté (The Roads to Freedom), for example, were published between 1945 and 1949. Surrealism, too, was still in evidence. The imperturbability of ‘pataphysics has always tended to sit rather uncomfortably with surrealism, although many of the early pataphysicians were also noted surrealists. 7 “The Pataphysical Calendar is a rearrangement of the Gregorian year calendar. The Pataphysical Era begins on September 8th, 1873, Jarry's birthday, and that date begins the Pataphysical year. The year is divided into thirteen months of 28 or 29 days each. Each day has a name (like a traditional French calendar of saints), always obscure and usually indecent. Each month begins with a Sunday, and has a Friday the 13th. Of course, the only way to do this is to intercalate days into the week, so that days of the Pataphysical week do NOT correspond to the days of the week in the Gregorian calendar. Since 13 x 28 is 364, there must be an intercalary day (two in a leap year) which is NOT a day of the Pataphysical week.

Each month has a 29th day, called a Hunyadi (ün-ya-DEE) - the name of a Hungarian patriot or a Hungarian laxative, depending on who you read. The Hunyadis are IMAGINARY days, with one exception (two in leap years). The non-imaginary Hunyadis are called "Hunyadi gras", Fat Hunyadi, like Mardi Gras I guess. The 29th of the month of Gidouille (= 13 July) is the annual intercalary day, with leap year day being the 29th of the month of Gueueles (= 23 February).” Quoted from Bob included: Raymond Queneau, Jacques Prévert, Max Ernst, Eugène Ionesco, Joan Miró, François Caradec, Marcel Duchamp, Camille Renault, the Marx Brothers, Ergé, Boris Vian, Barbara Wright, Marie-Louise Aulard, Jean Dubuffet, René Clair, Simon Watson Taylor and many many others.

LA CHANSON DU DÉCERVELAGE

Je fus pendant longtemps ouvrier ébéniste Dans la ru’ du Champs d’ Mars, d’ la paroiss’ de Toussaints; Mon épouse exerçait la profession d’ modiste Et nous n’avions jamais manqué de rien.

Quand le dimanch’ s’annonçait sans nuage, Nous exhibions nos beaux accoutrements Et nous allions voir le décervelage Ru’ d’ l’Echaudé, passer un bon moment.

Voyez, voyez la machin’ tourner, Voyez, voyez la cervell’ sauter, Voyez, voyez les Rentiers trembler; (Choeur): Hourra, cornes-au-cul, vive le Père Ubu !

Translation by Dan Clore:

For far too long I worked as a cabinet-maker, My spouse had the trade of designin' women's attire, In All-Saints' Parish, Rue du Champ d'Mars, And we never lacked whatever it was we might desire.

Whenever Sunday appeared with no cloud in the sky We went down to watch some debrainin' get done, Dressed to the nines in our spiffiest raiments, On the Rue d'l'Echaudé, and have arselves some fun.

See, see the Machine rotatin', See, see, the brains all aviatin' See, see, the Rentiers shakin' 'n' quakin'; (Chorus): Asshole-horns, yahoo! -- Long live Father Ubu!

Richmond’s website at http://user.icx.net/~richmond/rsr/pataphysique/pataphysique.html

HYMNE DES PALOTINS

C’est nous les Palotins C’est nous les Palotins On a des gueul’s d’ lapins, Mais ça n’empêche pas Qu’on est sal’ment calé Pour tuder les Rentiers. C’est nous les Pa C’est nous les Tins C’est nous les Palotins

Dans un grotesque accoutrement Nous parcourons la ville entière Afin d’casser la gueule aux gens Qui n’ont pas l’bonheur de nous plaire. Nous boulottons par une charnière, Nous pissons par un robinet Et nous respirons l’atmosphère Au moyen d’un tube coudé!

C’est nous… etc.

Translation by Dan Clore:

It's us the Pallidins, It's us the Pallidins, We've got rabbit's phizzes, But that hardly interferes With us dirty-trick whizzes When we's out croakin' them Rentiers It's us the Pals, It's us the Dins, It's us the Pallidins!

In our disgorgeous accoutrement We scours 'n' scrapes through the town To fash 'em 'n' smash 'em the phizzes o' folks Who's unluckly enough to bring us down. Up here we chaws 'n' chomps with a hinge, An' we pisses through a farcet down here, An' with this coilin' contortionist tube We sucks 'n' puffs the fuggin' atmosphere.

It’s us… etc.

Track 4: Erratum Musical Marcel Duchamp (1913) 3’ 31”

There is music and sound throughout Marcel Duchamp’s work, even if much of it is imaginary. The Large Glass has a soundtrack that is described in some detail in the Green Box, which also contains the observation: “One can look at seeing, one cannot hear hearing”. This realisation of Erratum Musical by Stephane Ginsburgh consists of the 88 notes on a piano keyboard played in a random order without repetition or undue emphasis given to any one note. For Duchamp, ‘pataphysics included ‘canned chance’ and the ‘inutilious’ machine. Inspired by the work of Raymond Roussel, he created four-dimensional machinery which engages in futile erotic activity, along with the celebrated ‘readymades’ which include “With Hidden Noise” (1916), another sound-based work. Duchamp’s output thus epitomises ‘pataphysics: hidden yet playful, intellectual yet absurd.

Erratum Musical (excerpt)

With Hidden Noise

Track 5: Kangaroo-Pouch Machine Percy Grainger (1952) 0’ 41”

Percy Grainger (1882-1961) was not a ‘pataphysician nor, probably, would he have liked ‘pataphysics. However, the kangaroo-pouch machine is co-opted onto this CD as an example of an attempted realisation of an imaginary music technology, that is pataphysically in keeping with the pataphysical project. From his early experiments with chance, such as 'Random Round' (1912), to the Free Music machines of the late 1940s and 1950s, Grainger dreamt of a new music that would be realised by imaginary technologies. This example is really a controller, using undulating paper rolls to manipulate the parameters of pitch, volume and timbre.

Track 6: Le Déserteur Boris Vian (1954) 3’ 29”

Boris Vian was one of the most celebrated pataphysicians of his time, as well as being an important influence on French culture. He was well-known as a writer, but also as a jazz musician and critic. His novels included L’écume des jours (Froth on the Daydream) of 1947 and J'irai cracher sur vos tombes (I Shall Spit on Your Graves) of 1946. He wrote more than 400 songs, of which this is probably the best-known. Although not overtly pataphysical, the theme of desertion is one that runs through Pataphysics, initiated by the subtitle of Jarry’s Days and Nights: “the novel of a deserter”. Here the desertion is twofold: from the army, but also from reality. Vian’s pacifist song, written in protest against the Algerian war, seems also to present a similar disaffection with the real world. It does so with a directness that still has a startling contemporary relevance.

LE DESERTEUR

Monsieur le Président Je vous fais une lettre Que vous lirez peut-être Si vous avez le temps

Je viens de recevoir Mes papiers militaires Pour partir à la guerre Avant mercredi soir

Monsieur le Président Je ne veux pas l'affaire Je ne suis pas sur terre Pour tuer des pauvres gens

C'est pas pour vous fâcher Il faut que je vous dise Ma décision est prise Je m'en vais déserter

Depuis que je suis né J'ai vu mourir mon père J'ai vu partir mes frères Et pleurer mes enfants

Ma Máre a tant souffert Qu'elle est dedans sa tombe Elle se moque des bombes Elle se moque des vers

Quand j'étais prisonnier On m'a volé ma femme On m'a vole mon âme Et tout mon cher passé

Demain de bon matin Je fermerai ma porte Au nez des années mortes J'irai sur les chemins

Je mendirai ma vie Sur les routes de France de Bretagne en Provence Et je dirai aux gens

Refusez d'obéir Refusez de l'affaire N'allez pas à la guerre Refusez de partir

S'il faut donner son sang Allez donner le vôtre Voue êtes bon apôtre Monsieur le Président

Si vous me poursuivez Prévenez vos gendarmes Que je n'aurai pas d'armes Et qu'ils pourront tirer

Translation:

Mr. President I'm writing you a letter that perhaps you will read If you have the time.

I've just received my call-up papers to leave for the front Before Wednesday night.

Mr. President I do not want to go I am not on this earth to kill wretched people.

It's not to make you angry I must tell you my decision is made I am going to desert.

Since I was born I have seen my father die I have seen my brothers leave and my children cry.

My mother has suffered so, that she is in her grave and she laughs at the bombs and she laughs at the worms.

When I was a prisoner they stole my wife they stole my soul and all my dear past.

Early tomorrow morning I will shut my door on these dead years I will take to the road.

I will beg my way along on the roads of France from Brittany to Provence and I will cry out to the people:

Refuse to obey refuse to do it don't go to war refuse to go.

If blood must be given go give your own you are a good apostle Mr. President.

If you go after me warn your police that I'll be unarmed and that they can shoot.

Boris Vian

Track 7: Harpo Boogie-Woogie Harpo Marx (1957) 1’ 44”

The Marxist wing of the Collège de ‘Pataphysique was, of course, occupied by Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo, and Zeppo. Music played an important part in all the Marx Brothers films, with Chico’s comical piano-playing and Harpo’s obligatory harp solos, complementing many musical numbers. Groucho’s famous maxim, "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member", (almost) sums up the Collège de ‘Pataphysique. The influence of this kind of pataphysical humour can be traced through to the Goons, Monty Python and the work of cartoonists such as Bill Griffith. Harpo recorded two albums comprising mostly arrangements of jazz standards, and aimed at popularising the harp. This original composition is taken from the second, “Harpo at Work!”

Track 8: L'Apres-midi d'un magnétophone: palindromes phonétiques Luc Etienne (1957) 5’ 09”

Luc Etienne was a master of the palindrome, but he was also a musician. The result was an interest in ‘phonetic palindromes’ in which the reversal of the sound of the words creates the palindromic effect. The use of a tape recorder to realise these palindromes is an early example of a pataphysical enagagement with music technology. Etienne recorded a large amount of material, including phonetic palindromes and lengthy explanations of the difficulty of their creation. They are immensely hard to achieve. There is room here for only a small selection.

1. This comprises solely Luc Etienne’s announcement, to familiarise the listener with his voice. 2. This is a simple demonstration of tape reversal, the second half of the recording being the forward version of what is heard in the first half. 3. “Une slave valse nue”, heard forwards, then backwards. This is a complete palindrome, sounding intelligibly the same both ways. 4. In this example, a young lady tells her psychoanalyst of a symbolic dream in which she had to drink down a large glass of snow. The sound of the reversal gives a different phrase, but the two are both intelligible and linked by meaning. 5. This is an entire story told by phonetic palindrome, about the young and beautiful, but idle, Anna and her two ski instructors, Jules and Yvan. It is hard not to hear prefigured here the speech of the dwarf in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.

During the 1960s and 1970s, pataphysics experienced increasingly wide exposure. This was in part due to the continuing popularity of Ubu Roi, but also because the presence of so many famous pataphysicians in the experimental and conceptual areas of art and culture attracted a certain attention. In music, probably the most noted example of this phenomenon was the reference to pataphysics in the first verse of The Beatles’8 song Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (1969), which goes:

“Joan was quizzical Studied pataphysical Science in the home”.

There were numerous productions of and musical works inspired by Ubu (rather than, strictly, pataphysics itself), including an opera called Ubu Roi by the English composer Denis ApIvor (1966) and Bernd Alois Zimmerman’s riotous concert work Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu (1966).9

Pataphysics has also had a significant influence on various aspects of British music: an influence which continues to the present day. The major figure is Gavin Bryars, to whose works the pataphysically curious are directed. The Sinking of the Titanic, Ponukélian Melody, and Out of Zaleski’s

8 Members of the Fab Four were awarded the Ordre de la Grande Gidouille by the Collège de ‘Pataphysique. 9 This is a trend that continues. 1991 saw the première of Jerzy Jarocki und Krzysztof Penderecki’s opera Ubu-Rex, and in 2002, Donald Dinicola staged his Ubu opera in the USA.

Gazebo are notable examples from this period. Christopher Hobbs has developed an oulipian approach in certain compositions, and recently Andrew Toovey toured his own opera based on Ubu Roi.

Popular music, experimental jazz, and progressive rock also proved susceptible to the pataphysical impulse, from the band Père Ubu to the Soft Machine, from Jean Dubuffet’s outsider music to Nigey Lennon’s intellectual rap. Space does not permit a full representation of all these artists, but a selection of the less readily available music should convey an impression of the spirit of the period.

As its subversive popularity increased, the Collège de ‘Pataphysique added Jean Dubuffet, Man Ray, Jorge-Luis Borges, Stanley Chapman, Paul Gayot, François Le Lionnais and many others to its ranks. It also became increasingly secretive, culminating in its ‘occultation’ in the late 1970s.

Track 9: Gai Savoir Jean Dubuffet (1961) 3’ 36”

Jean Dubuffet

This track comes from Dubuffet’s Experiences Musicales (Musical Experiments), an album of improvised music made with the help of Asger Jorn. As in his visual art, Dubuffet approached the business of making music by suppressing acquired knowledge and technique as much as possible. In the case of music that was easy, because he had only rudimentary ability on various keyboards. He was also a complete novice with the tape recorder (Gai Savoir is his first attempt to use two tape recorders together). The compositional process involved improvisation on a bizarre collection of classical, folk and ethnic instruments, and repeatedly overdubbing the results. Dubuffet said: “I am all for rugged and unaffected charms rather than frills and furbelows. […] We consider that a good recording provides clear and distinct sound which seems to be coming from a close source; in our daily lives, however, our hearing is submitted to all sorts of other sounds which, more often than not, are unclear, muddled, far from pure, distant and only partially audible.”

Track 10: Patasoft R. Wyatt/ H. Hopper 3’ 30”

The Soft Machine formed in 1966/7 and went through several different line-ups during their five to ten years of existence. The core members were Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper and Mike Ratledge. Their distinctive mix of improvisation with highly crafted songs and virtuoso musicianship have made them legendary figures in rock. This previously unpublished track is based on material from their 1969 album “Volume 2” Rivmic Melodies, and in particular the first two tracks: ‘A Pataphysical Introduction’ and ‘The British Alphabet’.

Track 11: Ponukélian Melody Gavin Bryars (1975) 11’ 33”

“This work pays homage to Raymond Roussel, whose novel Impressions d’Afrique is set in an imaginary Africa and takes place principally in Ponukélé. Impressed by the range of musical imagery in the book (only one of innumerable striking elements), I resolved to make a piece which, while not realising any one of Roussel’s images, reflected something of the aesthetic that those images seemed to imply.” (GB)

Ponukélian Melody is scored for organ, bells, cello and tuba, and this recording was made in May 1975 at the Lucy Milton Gallery, London, with Christopher Hobbs (organ), John White (tuba) and Gavin Bryars (cello). It has been digitally re-mastered for this CD.

Track 12: Alfred Jarry, The Man with the Axe (A Song to Make Rappers Blush & Honor Pa Ubu) Nigey Lennon (1984) 4’ 15”

Nigey Lennon wrote a biography of Jarry with the same title as this song, published in 1983 and available from Panjandrum Books, Los Angeles. In the introduction, she recounts: “I don’t know what I was expecting when I first began reading Jarry, but it didn’t take me long to become the most enthusiastic [and only] pataphysician on my high school campus. I found something absurdly exhilarating about Jarry’s staunch refusal to accept the parameters of “reality” and his equally stubborn insistence on living in his own personal universe.”

In the year 2000 AD, the Collège de ‘Pataphysique disocculted. Debate had raged inside the Collège about whether ‘the year 2000’ referred to 2000 Anno Domini, or 2000 Ere ‘Pataphysique (from the birth of Jarry). After a ruling from the Vice-Curator (who is now a crocodile) it was learned that a more public face would be shown by the Collège to the world from the turn of the millennium. This development was heralded by the publication of articles and a book entitled Pataphysique (2002) by the leading pataphysician, Jean Baudrillard. In music, too, pataphysics has begun to circulate, especially amongst those working in electronica and digital music. Somehow, the word ‘pataphysics seems to be the right one for our digital culture. The tracks that follow are examples of this tendency.

Offshoots of the Collège have proliferated both during and since the occultation. The best-known is probably the OuLiPo (Ouvroir de la Littérature Potentielle, or Workshop for Potential Literature). This began in 1960 and continues to meet regularly, and its famous members include Raymond Queneau, Italo Calvino, Harry Mathews and Georges Perec. Their use of various self-imposed constraints led to some highly original pataphysical literature10 (although that, to be sure, was not their aim) and has inspired various Ou-x- Pos (OuPhoPo for photography, OuPeinPo for painting, OuCuiPo for cooking, and so on) including an OuMuPo, of which Christopher Hobbs is a leading member.

Track 13: L’Auteur se Retire: Après Schubert Christopher Hobbs (2000) 3’ 22”

L’Auteur se Retire is a set of pieces, begun in 1996, which uses a lipogrammatic procedure whereby the letters of a composer’s name which correspond to musical notes (using the German notation convention in which S represents Eb and so on) are removed from a chosen example of the composer’s work. The pitches are removed whenever they occur in any register. The resulting gaps are replaced sometimes by silences of the same duration as the notes, sometimes by extending the previous note. Enharmonic spellings are allowed, (so where an Eb might be removed a D# would not). The French title was chosen because of the reflexive se - ‘The composer withdraws’ does not have quite the same feeling. And of course I am withdrawing as well, in that I have composed none of the notes, merely applied the lipogrammatic procedure.

This piece from the series uses the Andante from Schubert’s Ab major Sonata of 1817. (CH)

Track 14: Nicholas Through the Mist Andrew Hugill (2004) 5’ 00”

A piece for the late Nicholas Zurbrugg, a pataphysician who worked at De Montfort University, Leicester (a city which has been something of a hotbed of ‘pataphysics down the decades). It is also partly inspired by the theories of Jean-Pierre Brisset, who believed that man is descended from the frog, which he proves through a study of linguistic evolution. So the piece begins with an

10 Most famously Georges Perec’s novel La Disparition, which omits the letter ‘e’. Australian Mist Frog, whose Brissetian call gradually gives way to Nick’s name, spoken with a distinct French accent, assembled from phonemes on a language training tape. This in turn stretches into a mournful digital cry.

Litoria Rheocola

Track 15: D'Un Jet Frédéric Inigo (2005) 3’ 00”

Most of the sounds of ‘D'un jet’ are described in Jarry's ‘Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll’, book V, chapter XXXI, from ‘a dribble falling on a tight membrane…’ to ‘the valve opened, the music stopped’. Now then. I don't know how and when (and where (and why)), but it seems that Jarry heard my piece ‘D'un jet’ and described it very precisely in Chapter XXXI, book V of his ‘Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll’.

Frédéric INIGO, 29 Juillet, Sainte Farce

Alfred Jarry

Track 16: Einseidler Gullibloon (2005) 4’ 06”

Einsiedler or Hermit if you prefer. Chat-Art for insiders and Down the Spiral. Snapshot of the shared Transfiguration Stream. Seeing the same thing twice. Seeing it once over. Seeing it not. ~(N 52° E 13°), Time.now;

Tracks 17, 18, 19: three pataphonic studies: field recordings from the science of the particular John Levack Drever (2005)

Study # 1 field within field within field 0’ 57"

Electromagnetic field of an overhead pylon, within an arable field during harvest, within a field recording of an organic farm in South Devon.

Study # 2 woof-woofing 0’ 49" Field recording from a pack of juvenile canis lupus familiaris. On cold listening we can hear barking which grows from one voice to many and back again. In fact what we are experiencing is a sixth-sense in action.

Nine puppies were engaged in an art workshop on a Saturday morning in a gallery in Exeter, Devon. Sensing that their guardians had begun to prepare to leave their homes (in some case up to 7 miles away) and head to the art club, the puppies began to bark. This experiment was undertaken under strictly controlled circumstances. The guardians were contacted randomly by mobile phone, and their movements were monitored using GPS technology. The guardians were once again contacted randomly to suspend their task and to return to their kennels. This can be observed with the staggered cessation of barks. Although in a collective sense this study demonstrated the power of morphogenetic fields (Sheldrake 1988 & 1999) in this case between puppy and guardian, however it must be stated that the juveniles did have an enormous propensity for pack behaviour.

NB No animals were harmed in the making of this study, and all participants were suitably compensated for their time.

Study #3 flow and ebb 2'50"

Field recording from Budleigh Salterton beach, Devon. The actual mechanics on how this was achieved will not be divulged in this text, suffice to say that for the ebb and flow of the littoral zone to be reversed as well as speeded up is reliant on some considerable cosmic interference, as the rising and falling of tide is influenced by the gravitation fields of the Moon and the Sun who deform the geopotential surface of the oceans through the movement of the spheres.

Track 20: Interior/Interior Neil Salley (2005) 5’ 32”

"My nervous system cannot tell me anything because it is 'me': I am the activity of my nervous system; all my nervous system talks about is its own state of sensory-motor activity." -Heinz von Foerster

This audio track is one component of an installation piece titled; Interior/interior. This work grew from research into the world of 19th century scientist; John Keely and his inquiry into vibratory forces. He called his science “Sympathetic Vibratory Physics”. I relate Keely’s philosophies to the recent discovery of a new phase of matter, the collapse of atoms into a single quantum state known as Bose-Einstein condensation. This is also an investigation into an accord between these theories and another nineteenth century visionary; Hans Jenny, and the science of wave phenomena he called “Cymatics”.

The link between biological systems and quantum mechanics as a basis for consciousness was first revealed through the research of Professor Herbert Fröhlich, when in the 1960’s, he suggested that coherent vibrations may occur within biological macromolecules such as enzymes and this could then be used as a means of transporting energy between components of biological systems. According to Fröhlich, vibrating dipolar molecules in cell walls emit short range "virtual" photons, once they are vibrated above a certain level. Fröhlich showed that any additional vibratory energy pumped into the system causes similar molecules to vibrate in unison. A further input of energy results in further increase in coherence, until all the molecules achieve the most ordered form of condensed phase, a Bose-Einstein Condensate.

Interior/interior is a quantum bio-resonance amplifier that allows the bio-organism (a human body) to induce condensed phase vibratory energy into his/her nervous tissues.

The device is comprised of a 7’ diameter x 6’ tall cylindrical chamber that the user enters. Upon activation, the sound track on this CD is played through channels 1 and 2 on a set of headphones located inside the chamber while channels 3 and 4 supply separate base frequencies to 7 individual 120 watt transducers that are mounted directly below the drum shaped floor of the chamber. From within the chamber, the body interfaces the vibrations in total darkness while lying on top of this drum; the drum design of the interface is such that the body is immersed in visceral (vibratory), neurophonic and auditory resonance, a coherent and embodied relationship with the data is thus formed.

Interior/Interior a tool for extended consciousness research which fosters a heightened awareness of the biological nature of human consciousness by stimulating my body’s neuro-mass – It is this displacement that unhinges the perceptions and allows for new and unique point of observation.

Modern physics shows us that human consciousness is in scientific terms, an organic super conductive quantum phenomenon. If you accept this definition of human consciousness as a quantum state, with infinite levels of coherent and potential interconnection, then the human organism is indeed, a condensation of nested potential.

You are a condensation of nested potential.

Track 21: Just to be clear Ramuntcho Matta (2005) 3’ 30”

This patatune is what the stand of the wheel of marcel heard

It got sax (simon spang hanssen). It got female whisper (claudia huidobro) It got rythm (joao balao) It got me (voices and things) The mix is from 2gueltzl.

It is the favorit tune of doctor faustraull. He gave me the score longs ago. I record it in front of him at raymond roussel’s ‘locus solus’ club.

The translation of the lyrics are:

Soon soon But not yet Already Gone.

Too cool Too cool Vive la vie Et ses envies.

Track 22: Bam_HaHa Marc Battier (2005) 2’ 54”

"Ha ha!"

Bosse-de-Nage's famous words, through which he mostly communicates with Doctor Faustroll, may not have been heard until this recording was accidentally realized.

As Bosse-de-Nage would put it, "Ha ha" without further comment.

Voice of Jean-Paul Curtay, recorded in Paris (France) in 1984 and La Jolla (California) in 1985.

Final mix: Neuilly-sur-Seine, August 2005.

Track 23: To End, Caruso Sang Figure 1 (Moto perpetuo, begun in 1984) Andrew Hugill 0’ 31”

The title is an anagram of ‘Desargue’s Configuration’ and was inspired by a postcard from my brother, Mark Thomson. The piece imagines Caruso attempting to sing the configuration as a kind of graphic score etched on glass in mirror silver, like the Oculist Witnesses. What you hear is actually Caruso, attempting what was described as an ‘unwise’ high note. The repeating sound is the single piano chord that accompanied him. This was looped to play continuously and then, using the harmonics page of the Fairlight CMI, a kind of circular-breathing-head-voice was laboriously constructed. I composed the piece to mark my entry into the Collège de ‘Pataphysique.

Desargue’s Configuration

For further information (in English) about ‘pataphysics, the main source is Atlas Press. They can be reached by post at BCM Atlas Press, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3XX, United Kingdom or on the web at http://www.atlaspress.co.uk/ or in person at bookartbookshop, 17 Pitfield st, London N1 6HB.

Jarry on his bicycle (the time machine)

About the contributors:

Marc Battier is a composer of electroacoustic music. Currently lives in France. Works in various places across the globe. With Leigh Landy and Daniel Teruggi, has founded Electroacoustic Music Studies Network. Vice-president of Electronic Music Foundation. Professor at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Organised with Andrew Hugill and Philippe Cathé a conference on ‘Pataphysics and music. Latest CD: Audio Scans. Music from works by Roberto Matta (2005).

Gavin Bryars is a composer and a Regent of the Collège de ‘Pataphysique. His music is published by Schotts Ltd. For a full biography and discography, see http://www.gavinbryars.com/

John Levack Drever is a Lecturer in Composition at Goldsmiths College. He regularly presents his work internationally in a wide range of contexts: concert hall, radio, cathedral, catwalk, headphones, ice cream van, classroom, devised theatre, fine art gallery, video, internet, dance and for specific sites such as the Tower of Winds, an eighteen century octagonal tower in Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire. Much of his work is collaborative and he is a member of Blind Ditch. In an ongoing exploration into the relationship between sound and place he often works with field recordings. Current project involve doing field recordings on Orford Ness and Godwin Sands.

GulliBloon p := {Andreas Pieper, Wernfried Lackner, Oswald Berthold} g := p \cup {w | w = Data whirl forward backward}. GulliBloon \subseteq g \times g. \Delta g := 3 http://gullibloon.org

Christopher Hobbs was born in 1950. His early music, influenced by La Monte Young and John Cage, was encouraged by Cornelius Cardew, with whom he studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1967-69. He was a member of the Scratch Orchestra and the improvisation group AMM from 1969-71. In the 70's and 80's he gave many concerts with various groups, including the Promenade Theatre Orchestra, and worked with, among others, Gavin Bryars, John White, John Tilbury, Christian Wolff and Dave Smith. During the 1990's he moved more into solo performance. Although perhaps best known for his work in systemic music he has also written a large number of pieces for solo and ensemble in a variety of styles. He currently teaches at Coventry and De Montfort Universities. See the Experimental Music Catalogue, at http://www.experimentalmusic.co.uk/

Andrew Hugill (b.1957) is a composer, writer and Professor of Music at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, where he has worked since 1986. He is now Director of the Centre for Creative Technologies and a member of the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre. His compositions have been performed across Europe, in Australia, the USA and Japan, and include internet and electroacoustic music, instrumental and orchestral works. Many of the pieces explore pataphysical themes. See http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/~ahugill for more information.

Frédéric Inigo (b. Paris, 1959) studied at Conservatoire Darius Milhaud in Aix-en-Provence and at Departement Musique de la Faculté des Lettres (1976-1983). Founded the "Groupe Polymus" with other young composers, collective performances (1979-1983). Determinant meetings with Henri Sauguet (1979-1986). Founded the "Ensemble Décadanse" with Challulau and Delor - new musics - (1991). Organized "2000 miniatures pour l'an 2000" with Coma and Ensemble Décadanse and other "Rencontres Musiques Nouvelles" with Luca Miti, Tom Johnson, Andrew Hugill in Lunel (South of France). Founded "Never Plugged" - pop group without electricity – 2005. For more information and catalogue, see http://www.inigo.cc

Nigey Lennon specializes in humour, satire and surrealism. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications, including Playboy, California, the Village Voice and the Los Angeles Times and include Being Frank: My Time with Frank Zappa (California Classics Books, published in 1995 and updated in 2003). As a musician, she has worked closely with Frank Zappa and John Tabacco, and has produced several CDs. More information at www.nigeylennon.com

Ramuntcho Matta lives and works in Paris. Composer. Artist. Consultant in emotional arborescence. Teaches doubt at the Nationale Superieure de Création Industrielle (Paris). With Laurie Anderson, I discovered sonic construction. Wirth Robert Wilson, I discovered certain notions of scenography and space. With Don Cherry, I discovered an awareness of jazz, of improvisation… With Brion Gysin, I discovered narration. With Felix Guattari, I discovered multiples. With John Cage, I discovered aleatoricisim. With Chris Marker, I discovered synthesis. With music, I discovered complementarity. With my father, I discovered ‘seeing’. With my cat, I discovered humming. Ramuntcho Matta has exhibited in New York, Lisbonne, Madrid, Barcelona, London and Tokyo. See www.ramuntchomatta.com/

Neil Salley is a pata-physician whose practice focuses on the dynamic relationship between our precepts, psychophysical devices, and the visionary capabilities of the body. More information at http://www.neilsalley.com/